


Anamnesis

by Aernox



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, Handcuffs, Memories, Memory Loss, My First Work in This Fandom, Mystery, Puzzles, Repressed Memories, Slow Burn, Thriller, Trapped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2020-12-16 15:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21038426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aernox/pseuds/Aernox
Summary: Levi wakes up handcuffed to a woman that he does not recognise. Neither does he remember how he came to be in this strange room. Finding more people in the same predicament, they find themselves armed only with a card with a name and a phrase.





	1. A Little Too Close For Comfort

The man's heavy eye lids began to open slowly as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was lying flat on his back, he realised. He moved his arms in an attempt to try and sit up, but there was some sort of resistance from his left hand. He looked down at his wrist to find that it was handcuffed to a smaller more feminine one. His eyes traced the unfamiliar hand, up the arm until his eyes rested on her face. Her jet black hair was splayed out in a way that veiled most of her facial features, but he could tell that she was asleep. 

"Hello?" The man called out to her. Maybe she has the key to take this damn thing off. He thought to himself, trying the pry the sturdy silver handcuffs off.

But the girl with dark hair could not be roused no matter how much he tried to shake her shoulders or call out. Instead the man tried to figure out how he found himself in the unfamiliar place.

I have no memory of how I got here... Where am I? What is the last thing I did before I got here.

A dull throbbing headache overcame the man as he tried to probe for his last memories. Deciding to distract himself from his headache, he set about inspecting his surroundings as best he could from where he was sitting. He did not fancy the prospect of physically dragging the woman around on the floor as he tried to get a better look at the room. The room was quite large, the man gathered. But the most interesting aspect of the room was set in the middle of it. Large black and white tiles were set up in a way that reminded the man of a large chess board. The tiles seemed to glow almost except that the intensity of glowing would ebb, sometimes getting brighter then several moments later they would darken.

There was only one door that the man could see which was to the left of his position. Thoughts clouded the man's mind as he tried to figure out what was going on, when the woman he was handcuffed to seem to come to.

"Good, you're awake." Levi started, "I need to ask you somethin-"

Levi was interrupted by the woman as she vomited on the floor. Some of its contents splashed onto the man's boots, and he made no attempt to hide the repulsion on his face.

When the woman was done emptying her stomach contents onto the floor, she wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve. It was then that the man noticed that they were both wearing the same clothes. Identical dark green jumpsuits with several pockets, and black boots, that was all they had been fashioned with.

"Why are we wearing the same things?" The man asked, bewildered.  
The woman looked down at her garments but seemed to notice the handcuffs. 

"This is what I am more concerned about!" She said raising her handcuffed wrist, pulling his along with it. "Why the hell am I handcuffed to you?"

"I have no idea. I thought you might have some answers." It occurred to the man that he knew nothing about this woman, and therefor he could not trust her.

"Where are we?" The girl asked.

"Like I said... I thought that you might have been able to enlighten me." The man replied coolly.

"What's your name?" The girl asked as her eyes narrowed; obviously she felt the same way about him.

"My name... is..." The man was stumped for an answer, as if a big blank space crossed his mind. He threw his gaze to the room in front of him, as if hoping that his name would magically appear on the walls.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" 

"I... can't remember?" The man said, "What about you? What's your name?"

The woman's mouth opened, and hung there for several moments before she closed it. Her black eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why can't I remember my name either?"

"Well... I guess the cat has got both of our tongues." The man chided.

The woman threw him a dark look and stood up, the handcuffs pulling the man with her. 

"Let's walk around and see if we can find the key for this thing." The woman said.

The room was huge, but there was not much in it apart from the glowing grid in the centre, until the woman pointed out the chest of drawers on the opposite side of the room. There were four drawers. When they pulled open the first draw there was a single bottle of water which the man and woman shared. They put the empty bottle back into the top drawer and opened the second. Inside this drawer were a small notebook and some pencils.

"Why is this in here?" The woman's voice was quiet.

"What do you mean?" The man asked her.

"They obviously left it here for a reason..." Her voice trailed off.

The man did not say anything, but of course the thought had crossed his mind. Someone had taken them both from wherever it was that they were from, and brought them here.

But for what purpose?

"Mmm... well we had better take it in case we need it later." The man said as he putting the pencil into his trouser pocket. But something was already there. From inside of his pocket he pulled out a small card.

~*~*~

Levi   
"Take me back to where I belong"

~*~*~

The man examined the card, and had to read it several times. 

"What is that?" The woman asked, peering over.

"Check your pockets." The man replied, still engrossed in the words on the small white card.  
The woman pulled out a card of her own, and seemed to reread the card over and over again.

"What does yours say?" She asked

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's my name. What about yours?"

"I guess this could be my name... but I don't understand the bit underneath..."

"Can I see?" The man asked, but went she threw him the mistrustful look he offered that they each show their cards at the same time, to which she agreed to.

~*~*~

Mikasa

"You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink it"

~*~*~

"So you're called Levi?" The woman asked hesitantly.

"And you're Mikasa?"

The woman nodded, "Even if they aren't our real names, they'll do for now."

"Mmm... but I have no idea what the little phrase underneath our names mean."

Levi and Mikasa put their cards back into their pockets along with the small notebook and pencils. The bottom two drawers were empty so they made their way over to the glowing grid in the middle of the room.

"I wonder what this is used for?" Mikasa said.

"Hmm..." The man took one of the pencils out from his pocket and threw it onto a white tile near the centre of the grid. As soon as the pencil hit the white tile, it changed to a crimson red colour, and the other tiles followed suit.

Deafening alarm sounds blasted throughout the room. "Incorrect tile! Ten seconds until first punishment!" A stoic voice rang out over the blaring alarm.

"You idiot! Look what've done!" Mikasa shouted.

Instantly, the couple sprinted to the only door in the room, desperately trying to escape whatever punishment was meant for them. Running whilst handcuffed was awkward as each of them used their arms for momentum at the opposite times. Finally they seemed to get in sync with each other as they got closer to the door. As they reached the door Levi turned the handle and pulled open the door, Mikasa almost pulled Levi in before he had time to shut the door closed.

They gasped for breath, not knowing what was happening on the other side of the door, but they could still hear the alarms. After catching his breath Levi finally looked up, and saw that they were in a long corridor. Except there wasn't any windows, but white wallpaper, and grey stone tiles beneath their feet. There was a red door at the end of the corridor that looked miles away after their little sprinting session.

"Well, I w-" Levi was interrupted by a sound that seemed to come from above them.

A small tile in the ceiling was replaced by a nozzle that reminded Levi of a water sprinkler. But something about this one did not look particularly friendly in his eyes.

"Run!" He shouted

The pair started sprinting again, just missing the spray that emitted from the nozzle above their heads. To Levi's dread, more nozzles were appearing above them in the corridor, spraying a fine clear liquid. 

Several drops landed on Levi's hand as he tried to protect his head. A searing pain pierced his skin every time a drop landed on the exposed flesh.

"We have to make it to the door – hurry up!" Mikasa shouted.

Levi did not know if she could feel the drops on her skin, if she did she did not show it, he thought.

Finally the door seemed within reach. By some miracle Mikasa was able to turn the handle without losing the momentum of her running and the pair of them seemed to fall through the opening of door. Levi fell face first onto the floor, and Mikasa onto her side. She kicked her leg out the close the door, and lay on her back for a moment. They had escaped the painful sprays of the acidic liquid that rained from above.

The only sound Levi could hear was the thudding of his heartbeat in his ears, as he tried to focus on catching his breath. Just as he rolled onto his back, he was met by a pair of blue eyes.

"This is our room! Both of you get out!"

***


	2. Four Is A Crowd

Icy blue eyes glared at Levi as he lay on the floor, still trying to catch his breath.

"Did you hear what I said midget? I told you two to get the hell out of here."

"Give us a second!" Mikasa snarled

"Why the hell should I? This is our room, and you are not welcome here."

Levi propped himself onto his elbows, still sucking in deep breathes of air. The glacial blue eyes belonged to blonde woman with beaked nose. But the most intriguing thing was that she seemed to be handcuffed to a particularly tall man, who as of yet had not said anything.

"You're not even going to ask us who we are?" Levi questioned

"I don't want to know anything about you guys apart from what it'll look like when the door hits your arses on the way out." The blonde girl replied

"We should listen to what they have to say..." The tall man suggested. Levi noticed that the tall man seemed to be sweating bullets.

"No we don't!" Annie said, turning the face the man.

The tall man pointed at Levi, "Look, he's hurt."

Surprised, Levi looked down at his arms and noticed that some of the material on his jumpsuit had been burnt away, presumably from the acid from the sprinklers. Levi had been too focused on catching his breath, that he had not noticed the pain...until now. His skin burned, as if he'd been prodded by several hot pokers, but he restrained himself from grimacing.

"That's their problem, not ours." The blond girl replied coolly

Mikasa, now seemly aware that Levi was hurt, turned to him. "What happened?"

"Tch. It's nothing." Levi said, pulling up the arm of his jumpsuit, except now there were holes in it. "Some of that acid managed to get through my jumpsuit and onto my arms and hands."

The skin on Levi's arm was scorched red and inflamed. One particular spot on the back of his hand looked quite angry.

"Do you have any water?" Mikasa asked the tall man

"No, we don't." The girl said sternly

"I wasn't talking to you." Mikasa said to the girl, then turned her gaze back to the tall man.

"Didn't you hear me bitch?! I said no!" The blonde girl shouted

"What the hell is your problem?" Mikasa said as she stood up, the handcuffs pulling Levi with her.

"I don't like you. That is my problem. And I am not going to waste any of our water on either of you!"

"Yeah, well I don't like you either you blonde –"

The next thing Levi saw was a blur of green. He wasn't sure who hit who first, but both women where throwing punches at each other, albeit with some difficulty as they were still handcuffed to their male partners.

Levi was surprised that he had to use a significant amount of strength to pull Mikasa away from the blonde girl.

The tall man in an attempt to pacify his partner, had given her what looked like to Levi to be a backwards bear hug, in such a way that she was not able to move her arms.

"Let me go, Levi!" Mikasa argued, trying to pull her own hand from Levi's grasp.

"We have better things to do than beating each other up." He said, his voice almost sounding like a growl.

"Put me down, you great big giant!" The blonde girl shouted at her partner, her legs flailing through the air in vain.

"Not until you've calmed down, and promise not to fight anymore." The tall man said in a stern voice. Incredibly he seemed to be sweating even more, than when Levi first noticed him.

The blonde girl realising that her efforts were futile, immediately stopped and took a deep breath.

"Fine."

Gently, the tall man put his partner down. Except now, the couples each stood further away from each other – outside of punching range.

"Y-you wanted water?" The tall man stammered, as he took out a bottle from a pocket in his jumpsuit, "It's not much, but it's all we have."

He gently tossed to bottle to Mikasa, who caught it with both hands. Levi did not miss the dirty look the girl gave to both the tall man and Mikasa. She began pouring the water on Levi's arms and hands, the cooling sensation bringing temporary solace, until she stopped pouring.

"We should save the rest, Levi. I hope you understand. Just until we find some more." Mikasa said, screwing the cap back onto the bottle.

"Wait," Levi said, "You didn't get hurt?"

Mikasa shook her head, "Well, some of my hair got burnt by the acid. But I don't think that really counts."

Levi quickly glanced at her hands; they were red and inflamed just like his had been. He decided not to push the subject seeing as she obviously didn't want to draw attention to it.

"Thank you." Mikasa said, throwing the bottle back to the man.

"Great, now both of you can leave!" Annie barked

"We're not going anywhere until you answer some questions." Levi said, his eyes narrowing.

This was the first chance that Levi had of getting a look at the room they were in. He was surprised to see that they appeared to be in a room that looked exactly like a hotel lobby room.

"We can't be in a hotel?" Mikasa said, turning to Levi.

"I can't imagine a hotel having a sprinkler system that actually attacks its guests." Levi replied, and then turned back to the other couple that were handcuffed.

"So what are your names? I don't suppose either of you know why we are here by any chance?" Levi asked

"You guys can remember your name?" The tall man said in a surprised tone.

Levi sighed, this new couple were wearing the same jumpsuits as them, and they hadn't even checked their pockets yet.

"Check your pockets, you might find a card with your name on it. That's how we know our names." Mikasa suggested

This new couple wore the same old dark green jumpsuits as Levi and Mikasa, albeit with their own set of sewn up patches. It only now caught Levi's attention that the jumpsuits they were all wearing were quite old and worn out.

What if we aren't the first people to wear these jumpsuits? Does that mean that other people have been here before, and in our exact position?

Levi looked over his own jumpsuit more carefully, when he spotted small dark speckles. He had the sneaking suspicion that it was blood.

"So my name is Bertholdt?" The tall man asked, still looking down at his card, "But what is this bit underneath for?"

"We're not sure yet." Mikasa said, "But just out of interest, what does your phrase say?"

"Ab-" Bertholdt began, but was interrupted by the blond girl

"You tell us your names and phrases first." The girl said looking at Mikasa, "Then we'll tell you ours."

Levi shrugged, "Fine. The card says that my name is Levi, and the phrase "Take me back to where I belong", was my phrase."

Bertholdt and the girl now turned to Mikasa.

"I'm Mikasa. My phrase is, "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink it". Now it's your turn." Mikasa finished.

"The phrase that is written on my card is... is..." Bertholdt stammered, looking at the floor, "Abracadabra"."

Levi had trouble stifling his laugh, "So were you a magician before you came here?"

To Levi's surprise the blonde girl smirked, and Bertholdt continued to sweat.

"Was I?" Bertholdt asked, "Is that what our phrases mean? Do they reveal what our occupations were on the outside?"

"I don't know. But it's your turn now." Levi said, turning the blonde girl, with icy blue eyes.

"It says that my name is Annie. My phrase is, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"."

Mikasa snorted a laugh, and Levi had to agree. Annie had already shown what her temper was like.

Annie did not seem impressed and crossed her arms, "So do you guys know why we are here? Or why we are all handcuffed and partnered off?"

"Nope", Mikasa replied

"We are just as much in the dark as you guys." Levi added, and recounted the story of how he had woken up in another room with no memory and seemed to have tripped some kind of alarm and how they were attacked by the acid sprinkler system.

"Great, so were no closer to getting out this place. I knew we shouldn't have wasted the water on you guys." Annie spat.

"Do you really want to start all of that up again?" Mikasa returned

"Why don't we look around here for some more water?" Bertholdt suggested, "We never got to have a good look around here yet. We could have missed something. There might even be food around here. I'm starving."

"Good idea." Mikasa said, and she and Levi made their way into the centre of the room.

"So who do you guys think put us here, and arranged this whole thing?" Bertholdt asked

"Who knows? But I want to get out of her as quickly as possible." Mikasa replied.

"Let's check over here," Levi said, pointing towards what resembled the main reception of the supposed hotel lobby. The carpet on the floor was extremely ornate, and looked expensive. There were several coffee tables surrounded by beige sofas with scarlet cushions that looked particularly soft.

The reception area was made out of a dark oak wood, with stationary organised neatly. Curiosity got the better of Levi, as he picked up several sheets of what looked like paperwork, only to find that it was completely empty.

This doesn't sense.

"We need to check every nook and cranny." Mikasa added, as she rummaged through the top drawers.

Levi put down the empty sheets of paper and started looking in the bottom draws. Annie and Bertholdt were on the other side of the Lobby checking the tables and the furniture when Bertholdt called out.

"Guys, quickly! Get over here."

Levi and Mikasa didn't even look at each other before they started running over to the other pair. Their arms did not quite move in sync with each other, making it awkward to run.

"What happened? What did you find?" Mikasa asked when they reach the other pair.

"Shhh!" Annie's words were susurrus, "Just listen!"

Levi was sure that Mikasa even went as far as to hold her breath, in an attempt to listen as well as she could.

Then Levi heard it. It was not loud, but as if the noise was being filtered. But he was sure that he could hear shouting, coming from somewhere in the distance.

"How many of us are there?" Bertholdt asked.


	3. New Blood

"Let's go!" Mikasa said, already pulling Levi by the handcuffs.

"Annie, we should go with them." Bertholdt said, though to Levi it sounded more like pleading.

"Fine." 

Annie doesn't seem to be putting up much resistance to the idea...

The thought fluttered into Levi's mind, but he dismissed the idea soon enough, and told himself that he was overthinking things.

"Then we need to leave now!" Mikasa insisted, already making her way to the door.

Levi made a mental note to himself that they would have to come back to this room, once they had gone to investigate the noise.

We haven't had a proper chance to look around... we could have missed something important.

Mikasa opened up the only other door in the room and they headed down the dimly lit corridor. Faint spotlights were beamed up from lights in the ground, which cast strange shadows on the wall and on their faces. The group of four jogged down the corridor and the shouting they had heard was getting louder the further they went.

"We must be going in the right direction." Mikasa said, just as the corridor split in front of them, one path went to left, and one to the right.

"Which way do we go now?" Bertholdt asked

Levi was sure that he could see a hint of an eerie blue glow coming from the end of the corridor to the right.

Mikasa's brows furrowed, "This way", as she pointed to the left, "The noise sounds louder."

"We should come back at some point and check out this area too." Annie commented.

"You're right – after we find out what is going on here." Mikasa said, once again pulling Levi with the handcuffs as they began jogging down the corridor once again.

It wasn't long before the four of them were confronted by a door. It was obvious that the shouting originated from whatever was behind it.

"Be on your guard, we don't know who or what might be in here." Levi cautioned, though he himself did not know if he was speaking solely to Mikasa, or Bertholdt and Annie too.

Mikasa opened the door to a room that much resembled a library. The room did not have walls as such, but massive mahogany bookcases that reached from the floor to the ceiling. Inside the impressive bookcases were stacked books of every shape and size. In the middle of the wall opposite them was a grand fireplace, but it was unlit and empty at this time. Above it hung a colossal mirror, with an ornate golden filigree border.

Levi's attention now turned to the direction of the noise, and found four people whose backs were turned away from him. They were handcuffed in pairs just like Mikasa and Levi, and Annie and Bert. But the couple did not appear to be shouting at each other, and now Levi could hear what exactly they were shouting about.

"How can we trust him? This isn't right! He isn't one of us!" A young man said with blondish hair and a longish face said.

"I haven't done anything!"

Levi could not see the owner of this voice. A group of four people appeared to tower whoever was pleading.

"I agree, something doesn't seem right here..." A taller and stocker man said as he took a step closer to whoever was in front of him.

"We shouldn't make any rash decisions guys." The shortest of the group said.

"We need answers, so you better start talking fast!" A young lady with brown hair insisted.

The new group had yet to realise that they were being watched by the two new couples who still stood at the door, not yet sure of what to make of the situation.

The young blond man appeared to grab the unidentified person by the collar and push him against one of the impressive bookcases. Levi observed that they were all wearing the same sort of dark green jumpsuits as they were. Some were more tattered and worn looking than others.

"You better start talking runt, or we are going to have problems!" The blond man shouted as he slammed the person against the bookcase, causing several books to fall onto the floor.

"Please wait, if you could just give me a chance to explain!" 

Levi could now see the person who seemed to be causing all the panic, as he was slammed again and again into the bookcase. It was a young man, with dark brown hair and big green eyes.

Just then two things happened at once. Levi heard a quiet but sharp intake of air and felt a tight grip on his handcuffed hand. Levi's head whipped around to find the vice like grip come from Mikasa's own hand in his. Annoyed and confused, Levi yanked his hand away from her grip.

"What's wrong with you!" Levi hissed, the agitation obvious in his voice.

I hate it when people touch me. Levi thought as he scratched at his forearm.

Mikasa's eyes resembled that of a dear in headlights, as she seemingly stared at the commotion.

"Look over there! More people!"

Levi whipped his head back around to the new people, and found them staring in disbelief in his direction, along with Mikasa, Bertholdt and Annie. The brown haired man was pointing towards them, with a desperate look in his eye.

Hoping to take the spotlight of himself no doubt.

"Umm...Hello." Bertholdt said.

Levi did not need to turn around to know that Bert was sweating. The two groups stood silent for a moment, deciding what to do with each other. The other group seemed to scan Levi's group from top to toe - almost as if they were looking for something, before the silence was broken.

"This just confirms it!" the young blond man with the longish face said, and pointed in Levi's groups direction,"See, they are all handcuffed too! This guy isn't one of us – and that makes him an enemy!"

Levi looked at the new groups wrists to find them all wearing handcuffs... except for one of them.

"Why aren't you wearing handcuffs, kid?" Levi said, talking directly to the brown haired boy from across the room.

"I... I... don't know. I woke up like this, I wasn't with anyone." The boy pleaded, his voice was urgent as he tried to explain.

The young woman began to speak.

"But we are all paired off, and handcuffed. Even you guys." She said motioning to Levi's group. "Why is he different?" She pointed back to man without a partner.

"First things first - what are your names?" Annie said. 

When the other group sported confused looks, Bertholdt suggested checking their pockets, as Levi had to them in the previous room.

The young blond man with the long face and bad temper started first.

"My name is Jean, my caption says, "Ignite those that dwell in the shadows"... what is this supposed to mean?"

"We don't know yet... we had a theory that it might have something to do with who we were outside of this place. Maybe like what our occupations were. But we are not sure yet." Annie offered.

The brown haired girl that was handcuffed to Jean began to speak and Levi noticed that her face carried a plethora of freckles.

"Ymir is my name. But I don't have a phrase on my card. I have a number. Did anyone of you guys have a number?"

"No, none of us had a number." Bertholdt said, shaking his head.

Nobody spoke. Not sure what to make of this change, they decided to continue with finding out their names.

The tall blonde stocky man held out his card as he spoke.

"I'm Reiner, and the phrase on my card is," The pen is mightier than the sword." He said with a confused look as he crossed his arms, unaware at how it showed off how stocky and built his shoulders were.

"Something tells me that you weren't a writer on the outside." Annie sniggered.

"This card says that my name is Armin, bellow is written, "Dark horse"."

"He's short enough to be a jockey, no?" Jean said with a smirk.

"Look who's talking, horse face." The brown haired man said, seemingly forgetting that he was at their mercy only moments ago.

Jean turned back to him, "Oh yeah? Well then, read us out your car so we can figure out who you are, and what we will do with you!" Jean finished with a prod to the strangers chest.

The brown haired man cleared his throat and took out his card.

"My name is Eren." He squinted at his card before saying, "I don't have a phrase either, I have something else... It is like the shape of an upside U but with sharp angles instead of curves."

Jean had snapped the card out of Eren's hands before he had even finished his sentence.

"I guess this knocks your theory on its head." Jean said to Annie.

Before Annie could reply, Armin took a step forward.

"We can't say that for sure. Not until we know what it actually means." He said, looking around at the group before him.

"Anyone have any ideas as to what this is?" Reiner said as he passed the card to Ymir for inspection.

Levi turned to Mikasa, who he realised had not spoken since they entered this room. She was still staring directly at Eren, who seemed oblivious to the fact that he was being watched.

"Mikasa," Levi said prodding her shoulder, removing her gaze from Eren, "Any idea what this could be?" As he received Eren's card from Ymir, and handed it to her.

"Oh," she murmured as she took the card, "No... I don't know what this is."

Mikasa passed the small card to Bertholdt, not looking at Eren now but at Levi.

"I need to speak with you." She whispered to Levi, no one else seemed to notice as they discussed what they thought the symbol on Eren's card could be.

"Why? What's the matter?"

Mikasa shook her head discreetly, "I can't say it hear."

Levi pondered for a second before nodding, "Okay, but later. We need to find out a bit more about these guys."

"But Levi, listen for a sec-"

"I said later!" Levi cut her off.

"Such an arsehole..." Mikasa said under her breath, but made sure it was loud enough for Levi to hear.

Levi turned his attention back to the new group. "So I'm assuming that because you guys had to use the cards to remember your names... that you all woke up here without your memories too?"

"That right," Reiner said, "But me and Armin here, didn't wake up in this room."

"We woke up in another room, through that door and down a small corridor." Armin corroborated his partner's story, as he pointed to a door.

Taking a look around this library room, Levi noticed four doors, one door for every wall. Above each door was a single letter. The room that Armin had pointed out had the letter "S" above it. Directly opposite was a door with the letter "N". The other doors had a letter "E" to the right, and a letter "W" to the left.

Like a compass. Good – we need all the help we can get.

"We came from a different room too." Ymir said, interrupting Levi's train of thought.

"Our room is through that door," Jean said, pointing to the "E" door. "Down a corridor which splits in two directions, but we haven't checked out any other rooms yet."

"This is the room I started in." Eren said, "I don't have any memory of who I am. I was the only one here when I woke up; I don't have a partner like you guys."

"Or so he says... how can we trust anything that comes out of his mouth? He doesn't have a partner, but we all do? Why?" Jean asked.

"Just because he is different does not mean that he is a threat." Armin interjected.

But it is obvious that everything here was carefully planned and laid out for us...

"I hate to say this kid, but I have my suspicions too." Reiner said, now turning to the others, "What if he killed his partner?

"What makes you think that?" Levi asked, not able to hide his curious tone.

Reiner turned to Levi, a grave expression set on his face. 

"Haven't you noticed the blood on his jumpsuit?"

***


	4. Wear And Tear

"Haven't you noticed the blood on his jumpsuit?" Reiner asked.

Levi's eyes shot directly to Eren jumpsuit where they seemed to scan its entirety in just a few seconds before they found what they were looking for. There were two dark patches on the tattered garment, one near Eren's midriff and the other near the bottom of his left leg.

Everyone seemed to step forward a little closer to get a better look. Jean got the closest, and Levi got the impression that he would want to be the person most eager to condemn Eren. Levi observed that Jean had already made it pretty obvious that he did not the like the green eyed boy.

"How can you be sure it this is blood?" Eren said, raising his leg and pointing to the dark patch. "Besides, I woke up with this jumpsuit on."

"It does look like blood..." Jean said.

"But doesn't it look old? Like it's already dried in?" Bertholdt asked nobody in particular.

"Besides, look at all of our jumpsuits... they are pretty old." Ymir said.

"They look like they have been worn by people a long time before we ever got it." Mikasa added.

Everyone seemed to look at the jumpsuits, evidently they had been worn and torn, and some even had patches sewn on.

"But guys, it makes sense!" Jean said, pointing to the bloodstain on Eren's midriff. "What if Eren had a partner, just like the rest of us... but killed them?"

"I told you I woke up without a partner! Plus why would I kill them for no reason. There is no motive for me to do that!" Eren's voice was rising out of anger.

"Jean what exactly are you suggesting he used to kill his partner? We haven't found any weapons since we've been here. And if he was handcuffed, how did he get the cuffs off? Bertholdt and I, tried using a chair to break ours off..." Annie said turning the group, "Turns out these cuff are pretty resilient to heavy objects."

The group looked at each other in silence, seemingly daunted at the situation that they found themselves in.

It's like people are just starting to realise the gravity of our predicament. We are trapped and handcuffed for an unknown reason, in this... place. And Jean would make people believe that we have a murder in our midst.

Levi peeked a Mikasa from his peripheral vision and was sure that she was staring a Eren.

"I think we should give Eren the benefit of the doubt here guys. We don't know enough at this point to make a decision as to what we think happened. Also, even if Eren did have a partner and kill them, then what exactly do we plan to do next...?"

Armin let the question hang in the air. He did not say what he thought the others might suggest, for that would be too cruel if that was the case.

Levi made a point to quickly glance at Jean, who judging by his facial expression was not happy at Armin's defence of Eren.

"Fine - but someone needs to watch Eren at all times until we know a bit more about this place. I still don't trust him." Jean said, crossing his arms. The rattle of the cuffs were a not so subtle reminder that Eren was the only one of the group not wearing any.

"I would never have guessed that..." Levi commented.

Reiner laughed and nodded.

"Fine, Eren will be under guard until then."

"And how exactly am I going to be able to prove my innocence?" Eren asked.

"We will have to explore this place I guess, or better yet escape." Ymir said.

"In case anyone was thinking that someone was going to rescue us, I think we should forget about that idea completely. Whoever put us here wants us to figure this maze or puzzle or whatever this is, out for ourselves. The cards with our names and those little phrases prove that." Mikasa said to the group.

"It makes sense." Levi concurred.

"Yes," Armin started, "They - whoever they are, are leaving clues at every turn. But we just have to be able to work out what they mean and put the pieces together."

"We haven't even explored this place fully." Annie added, "We didn't get to finish exploring our room. When we heard you guys shouting, we immediately ran this direction."

"How big is this place? You can't build a place this big and people not notice it." Ymir asked.

"It must be underground." Armin said, "Haven't you noticed that there are no windows."

Levi looked around at the windowless walls and sudden felt claustrophobic. He scratched at his forearm through his jumpsuit as he realised that he did not recall seeing windows in any of the other rooms or corridors either.

It's not a big deal, settle down.

"Guys we are going off in a tangent. We need to search this place in a systematic and organised way. The best way to do that is to split up." Levi suggests.

"And we will come back here and report what we've found." Reiner confirms.

"I hate to change the subject guys," Bertholdt said clutching his stomach. "But does anyone have any food? I've feeling hungry and dizzy for a while now."

Reiner turned to Armin.

"Didn't we see some packed lunch boxes in the room we started off in?"

Armin's eyebrows furrowed before he answered.

"Yeah, I think so."

Reiner turned back to the group.

"Why don't me and Armin go and grab the food and bring it back here? It means that we can all eat together, regain our energy and then head out and explore this place a bit better." Reiner finished.

Everyone seemed agreed on the idea, and bid farewell to Reiner and Armin as they left by the door to the south.

"I guess we should just relax until they get back." Ymir suggested as she looked about the room. "There are a few chairs, and a few small sofas in here. We should rest while we have the chance. Who knows what lies in store for us?"

Eren went to sit down in a nearby chair, before Jean pulled on the collar of his jumpsuit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jean said, his words drawn out.

"I'm going to sit down, if it is not too much of an inconvenience to you?" Eren replied sarcastically.

"You'll be staying at my side at all times." Jean said, turning to those of the group still left in the room. "That was part of the agreement, that we would watch you, until you can prove your innocence."

No one in the room disagreed with Jean.

"Who's to say, that the moment we turn or back on you or fall asleep, that you won't kill us?" Jean shook his head, "I just can't take that chance, Eren."

With no one coming to his defence, Eren followed Jean without another word, as he and his handcuffed partner Ymir went over to a sofa near the northern exit.

"Bertholdt, we will take this sofa." Annie said, tugging her partner over to the sofa near the western exit.

So everyone still prefers to stay with their original partners only. Except for Jean of course, who has really taken a disliking to Eren for whatever reason... Does Jean think that he is really protecting the group, or is there something else...

"Levi, I need to talk to you." Mikasa said in a low voice.

"Yeah," Levi replied annoyed that Mikasa had broken his chain of thought. "Fine, let's sit on this sofa."

Mikasa and Levi walked to the sofa near the eastern exit, just beside the fireplace and the huge ornate mirror that Levi had noticed when they had first entered this room. The sofa was crimson red colour, with two golden pillows that had detailed lace work embroidery.

Levi sunk into the sofa as soon as he sat down, not realising how tired he was until that moment. The sofa faced the wall, and it was positioned in such a way that the sofa was directly in front of the fireplace.

If that fireplace was lit, I know I would be asleep in second. I can't remember the last time I was this tired... But that's not saying much.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Levi said, his voice betraying how tired he was.

Mikasa looked over her shoulder, to make sure that they were alone. Having decided that no one could hear her and that they were alone, she decided to finally turn back to Levi.

"Yes. I need to tell you something. But if I tell you, you can't say anything to the others. Not yet anyway." Mikasa said slowly, as she carefully picked her words. 

"Stop being melodramatic and just say what you were going to say." Levi said, his tone too curt.

"Levi, I'm being serious. This could change everything. I need to you promise me. People could get hurt..." Mikasa said.

Levi saw the concerned expression on her face.

"Fine." This time his tone was gentler than it had been, as he nodded his head in acceptance of her condition.

"I recognise him. I've seen Eren before."

Suddenly, Levi did not feel tired any more.


	5. The Stolen Glimpse

"I recognise him. I've seen Eren before."

Levi and Mikasa were sitting next to each on a sofa out of ear shot of the other partners scattered about on other sofas about the room. Levi repositioned himself so that his body was facing hers. She had his undivided attention. But he remained silent, stunned at Mikasa's revelation.

"Say something." Mikasa sighed and shook her head, "Now I get the feeling that I shouldn't have told you."

"Why did you? We barely know each other, yet you trusted me with this information. Why would you do that even though it went against your better judgement?" Levi asked as his brows furrowed.

Mikasa pondered for a moment before answering.

"I'm not sure. But you and I are partnered up. Maybe whoever put us in here partnered everyone up in specific pairs for a reason?"

Levi thought about this for a moment before Mikasa started again.

"Plus, I don't get a bad vibe or feeling from you unlike some of the others..."

"Really? Like who?" Levi asked, intrigued.

Mikasa looked behind her, making sure that no one listening to their conversation.

"That girl Annie - there is something not right with her."

Levi snorted, he did not trust Annie one bit either but they had more pressing matters at hand.

"Wait - go back to Eren. You said that you recognised him?"

Mikasa nodded.

"How do you know him?"

Mikasa tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and her eyes seemed to go distant as she went deep into thought.

"It's hard to explain. If you had asked me what his name was before he told us, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. But as soon as I saw him, this image flashed before my eyes. I was walking, I don't know where. As I walked I turned around and Eren was beside me. We were walking together... I think he might have been my friend...?"

Levi did not miss the way the pitch of her voice elevated towards the end of her sentence.

She is unsure of what she said.

"Can you be sure that it was this boy Eren that you saw though?" Levi asked.

"His eyes... ", Mikasa's gaze turned away from Levi. "The colour of his eyes are unusual... but they are exactly how I remember them." Mikasa said in a more confident tone.

"But that way you said it before made me think you were unsure about it?" Levi asked, keen on pushing for more information.

Mikasa turned her head in such a way that Levi could not see her facial expression.

"What I wasn't sure about, was if we were friends or maybe... something more than friends."

"Tch."

Mikasa spun her head around in shock of his reaction.

"What do you mean by that?" Mikasa spat.

Levi took a deep breath and sighed.

"Nothing."

Levi could tell that she was annoyed at him.

"And that is all that you can remember about him?" Levi asked.

"That's it. The reason I asked you not to say anything yet is because of the others. A lot of the others don't seem to like Eren... he has already been accused of murder. To add this to his name might but him in even more danger." Mikasa said.

Levi pursed his lips in thought.

"Or it could exonerate him..." Levi said. "If he has someone to vouch for him it may take the suspicion off of him."

This time Mikasa snorted a laugh.

"And tell the others what exactly? That I have a glimpse of a memory? No – I think that would make things much worse. They may suspect me of being.... something! It seems that in here, being in anyway different causes you trouble."

To prove her point, Mikasa looked back at Eren who was sat under the watchful guard of Jean, while his partner Ymir appeared to sleep on the sofa.

Levi nodded in agreement of Mikasa's reasoning, and thanked his lucky stars that he was paired up with such an astute partner.

"But just so you know, I think your instincts are right. I don't trust that Annie girl either. As for your boyfriend, I can't seem to get a good read on him yet. But time will tell."

With that, Levi and Mikasa decided to rest while they could but this only meant closing their eyes for a short time before Armin and Reiner got back with the food. Levi's mind was unable to switch off, sleeping would be impossible. Now that he had time to sit down and think, Levi realised that he had a throbbing headache.

So Mikasa recognises Eren. But he did not seem to recognise her?

Convinced that the confusing situation was giving him his headache he screwed his eyes closed, hoping that it would go away. Levi heard the handle of door behind him turn, and from the door Armin and Reiner returned with lunchboxes in their arms. Excited at the prospect of food, everyone gathered to the pair of blond men. There was a large dark mahogany table in the middle of the room, and the food was laid out as everyone took their seats.

"Is there any more food?" Bertholdt said, tucking into his ham and cheese sandwich.

"Mmmhmm." Reiner grunted.

"Yeah, there are quite a number of boxes left in our room but I think we should try and ration them until we can find more." Armin said as he sipped from a carton of juice.

"Did you ever think that it could mean that there are more people here?" Mikasa said.

"What do you mean?" Ymir asked.

"The thought did occur to me." Armin said as he nodded and turned to the group sat at the table, "Whoever put us in here put us in here for a reason right? They want us to do something. And that means that they can't let us starve in here in the meantime. Now, what Mikasa said about there being others is that the amount of food they have left in mine and Reiner's room is way more than the seven of us need. Therefore, the rest of the food is surplus meant for the other people that must be in here."

"So we should try to find them?" Eren asked.

"Of course we should try to find them." Jean piped up; Levi got the impression that he wanted Eren to look like an idiot.

"But how are we going to organise this? This place seems huge." Annie asked as she took a bite from her apple.

"Armin has a theory. Why don't you bounce your ideas of them?" Reiner suggested.

"I believe that this library may be the centre of this place, whatever this place may be. The reason I think that is because of the doors." Armin said, pointing to the door to the south.

"So what about doors? I find that most rooms have doors..." Jean tone was too cocky for Levi's liking.

Armin's cheeks began to redden, but he continued.

"Yes but this room has four doors going in all different directions, and they even show if they go south, north etc. Now I have only been in two rooms in this place. This room I'm going to call the Library – because I can assume that we all believe that it resembles one?"

The group nodded. Nobody could fail to miss the huge bookcases that took up every inch of the walls in the room.

"Good, and now the room that me and Reiner came from, I am going to call the Classroom. Again because that is what it looks like. Now, that room only has one door, which leads here to the Library."

"Yeah does anyone else think that there seems to be themes going on with these rooms?" Ymir asked.

"It's pretty obvious." Annie quipped.

Ignoring these comments, Armin continued.

"Now if this is the centre, then we need to explore each of the branches that lead out of here. If we all go together we will be wasting time, and I have a feeling that time will be of the essence if we want to get out of here. So I am going to suggest that we all split up and go in different directions and gather whatever food, water, resources and even other people and bring them back here to the Library. We should all agree to regroup in 2 hours, regardless if we find anything or not. Are we agreed?"

The general consensus was that the group did agree, but of course there were one or two issues.

"So if we are splitting up, who is going where?" Ymir asked.

It was agreed that Annie and Bertholdt would take the North door and see what they could find. Mikasa and Levi were keen set off back the way that had come, and so they would take the West door, down the corridor that lead to the room that Annie and Bertholdt were found in. But that corridor had two different paths that could be taken; they would take the branch that did not lead to the Hotel room.

Jean and Ymir said they would go back through the East door and bring back what they could. Armin and Reiner would stay in the Library, as Armin thought that the books might be of some use. Reiner added that if there was an emergency, that they were to come back to the Library for help. Jean did not like the idea of leaving Eren out of his sight, but Reiner was quick to assure Jean that he had nothing to worry about and that Eren would help Armin with the books. Jean did not seem to like the idea of arguing with a man of Reiner's build and size.

With everyone agreed as to where they were going, everyone began to stand up and push their chairs underneath the library table.

Jean bent down to tie the shoelaces on his boots, but the length of the handcuffs meant that Ymir's arm was dragged down too.

"By the way guys, if anyone could find something that could get these chains off..." Ymir said, her handcuffs rattling as she shook her wrist. "I would be much obliged".

"I'm not that bad am I?" Jean said sarcastically.

It was obvious that everyone wanted to get the handcuffs off, and it was decided that anything that they thought could take off the handcuffs should be added to the list of things that should be brought back to the Library.

The group quickly said their goodbyes and wished each other luck and they all began to make their way to their respective doors. Levi watched as Armin already began looking through the titles of books of the nearest bookcase. Mikasa put her uncuffed hand on the golden doorknob and pushed the door open to reveal the familiar dark corridor and stepped inside.


	6. Uncharted Waters

Mikasa heard Levi shut the door as they entered corridor. It was dark as there were no lights on this part of the corridor, but the sound of their boot steps seemed to bounce of the walls. As the pair rounded the corner they faced the long familiar corridor, the end of which Mikasa thought she could see a dim blue glow.

"Was that there the last time we came through here with Annie and Bertholdt?" Mikasa asked, as she pointed to the faint glow.

"Yeah, I remember seeing it. That's one of the reasons I wanted to come back this way." Levi replied.

"I wish we had a torch or something, it's so dark in here." Mikasa commented.

"What's the matter, are you scared of the dark? Want me to hold your hand?" Levi asked sarcastically.

To Levi's surprise Mikasa let out a hearty laugh, her chuckles ricocheting off the walls. Levi furrowed his brows, amused by her reaction.

"Thanks for the offer, but no." Mikasa said shaking her head, smiling to herself.

They couple continued to walk for some time, until they reached the corridor that led down to the Hotel room where they had meet Annie and Bertholdt.

"We should make a point of going back to that room at some point." Mikasa suggested, "Seeing as we didn't really finish looking through it."

Levi nodded in agreement, as they both started walking down the part of the corridor that had yet to be explored. The further they walked, the more the soft blue glow grew in intensity, with only the clinking of the chains of their cuffs to keep them company.

"We really should make it a priority to get these things off." Levi said cooly.

"I have to agree, I find being chained quite stifling." Mikasa commented.

"Should I assume then, that you find me stifling?"

"Don't put words into my mouth. I just don't like being held back." Mikasa said without turning to look at Levi.

"Tch. Now you think I hold you back?" Agitation was easy to find in Levi's tone.

"Why do you do that? Assume that every comment I make is to try and have a dig at you? What I meant was like with the situation with Annie. You broke up the fight."

"Did you not notice that Bertholdt also stopped Annie? We didn't know anything about them, and I didn't think it wise us getting into a fight with potential allies." Levi stated in a matter of fact way.

"In other words you didn't think I could beat her."

"Now who is putting words into someone else's mouth?" Levi said, "Besides, I've never seen you fight, or Annie for that matter."

The blue light seemed to get stronger and Mikasa had to squint her eyes until she blinked in disbelief. The walls had changed to glass. Except behind the glass was crystal clear water, filled with fish that swam within a forest of kelp and other seaweeds. Mikasa was so astonished that it was several moments before she noticed the stingrays, sharks and other aquatic life.

Just how big must this place be, to be able to fit all of these creatures in here? It's like we're in a bottomless pit...

Mikasa and Levi had both stopped in their tracks.

"You are seeing this too, right?" Mikasa asked.

"Mmm hmm." Levi murmured.

"Why is this here?" Mikasa asked, entranced by the fish swimming between long streams of kelp.

"I haven't the foggiest idea." Levi replied his voice distant, distracted too by what he was seeing. "But someone really went to a lot of trouble to build this."

"That is true, and we are still no closer to knowing why." Mikasa muttered.

"Can you remember anything else about Eren?"

Mikasa shook her head.

"Nothing."

"Not even his favourite colour?" Levi said.

"Funny," Mikasa says sarcastically. "But no. I don't even know what kind of a person he is."

"That's odd."

"What is?" Mikasa asked.

"Earlier you said that maybe whoever put us in here, paired us up specifically with another person... But if you knew Eren on the outside, then why didn't they partner you two together in here?"

Levi finished speaking and raised his handcuffed wrist, as if to emphasise his point.

Mikasa and Levi seemingly as confused as each other, drew a blank. Just then Levi shut his eyes, his brows furrowed together and his thumb and forefinger pinched the top of his nose.

"What's the matter?" Mikasa asked, her voice concerned.

"Nothing ." He breathed, shaking his head.

Mikasa was now decidedly fed up that Levi was not going to let her know what was wrong with him, and so said that they should push on.

They pair continued down the corridor until they reached an opening with no door that led to a massive room, of which all four walls made up a massive aquarium with only the tunnel they had just come from providing an exit.

"I need to sit down. Headache." Levi said, to Mikasa's surprise.

Mikasa noticed a modular bench which she assumed was the seating area, and let Levi sit down in the hope that it might relieve his headache.

"Do you usually suffer with headaches?" Mikasa asked.

"Tch. Well I don't know if I did before I had my memory erased..." He said sarcastically. "But since I got here, it has been near constant. Sometimes it's quite dull, but bearable. But sometimes it comes on quite strongly."

"Does anything make it feel worse?" Mikasa asked.

"Thinking and talking make it worse." Levi said, curtly.

"Anything make it feel better?" Mikasa asked.

Has she always been this abnormally annoying?

This time Levi did not respond, but sighed deeply and lay back on the bench and closed his eyes, covering them with his uncuffed arm. Not sure in what way she could help, Mikasa looked at the floor as she tried to think of something to say or do. Her eyes found their way to her boots, and she noticed that her shoelaces were undone. She crouched down, pulling Levi's arm with the cuffs as she attempted to tie her laces when she froze.

"Levi, do you feel that?" She asked.

"What now?" He responded, obviously annoyed.

"Your hand! Can you feel that breeze too? It's coming from down here!"

Levi opened his eyes to see Mikasa crouched on the floor looking at the bottom of the panel on the bench he was sitting on. She moved her hand around, trying to locate the source of the breeze.

"It's definitely coming from here – look here, from this grate."

Levi too crouched down in order to get a better view at what Mikasa was seeing. There was a metal grate that Levi hadn't taken notice of – he assumed it was part of the design of the furniture. Without warning Mikasa pulled out the grate, and set it to the side.

So, she is abnormally strong too?

Levi saw the beginnings of a grin on Mikasa's lips, as she turned to face him.

"Shall we take a look?"

"It would be a shame not to; after all you've just torn the place apart." Levi replied.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Mikasa said, already crawling on her hands and knees into the small space.

After crawling no more than ten metres, the space opened up so that both Levi and Mikasa could stand up and walk with ease. The tunnel was dark, the only source of light coming from the entrance they had made behind them, and a small amount of light at the opposite end of the tunnel.

"This place is just full of surprises." Levi commented.


	7. Tunnel Vision

Although Levi and Mikasa could stand up in the dim tunnel, it was not wide enough for them to stretch out their arms. Still, they proceeded on the only way they could, slowly.

"Yeah, we are really going to have to find a torch at some point." Mikasa said.

"It'll be our priority, right after we find a key for these." Levi said, pulling his arm on the handcuffs.

"I've got to agree with you there."

They walked for a short time in silence, neither of them knowing what to say to each other.

After all, we practically know nothing about each other.

Levi had mulled over this thought to himself, as he scanned the metal walls that made up the tunnel in front of them. It appeared that the tunnel was made of metal sheeting, with pillars of rivets connecting them together. The rest of the tunnel was spartan save these small details that Levi had noticed.

Suddenly, Mikasa stopped in her tracks. Levi, not noticing that Mikasa had stopped, bumped into her.

"What the hell?"

But just as the words escaped his mouth, Levi had caught a flash of light from the corner of his eye. The direction of which, Mikasa was now looking at – there was no doubt in Levi's mind that she too had seen the flash of light. Mikasa was already standing on the tips of her toes and reached up with her hand. With her hand grasped firmly on the object she stood back onto the flats of her feet.

"What is it?" Levi said, the lack of light preventing him from seeing the object.

Mikasa was silent as she traced her fingers over the object. She knew exactly what it was when she first touched the leather grip.

"It's a knife." Mikasa said, Levi struggling to hear, as her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Levi got the impression that something in those few seconds had changed in Mikasa. Yet, he dared not say anything, he waited to see what Mikasa would say or do next. Levi couldn't be sure because of the darkness, but he was sure that Mikasa was just skimming her fingers over the blade of the knife, over and over again. To Levi, Mikasa seemed totally and utterly entranced by the knife. Slowly, Mikasa's hand moved to her abdomen.

"Are you going to be sick again? Because if you are, can you make sure do to it away from my direction?" Levi said with some haste.

Mikasa finally raised her head to look at Levi, seemingly out of whatever trance she was in.

"Erm...let's see if this thing can get our cuffs off, shall we?" Mikasa suggested, but her bright tone did not deceive Levi.

And just like that, things are back to normal? I don't think so.

"What was that?" Levi asked.

"What was what?"

"You. With the knife?"

"Nothing." Mikasa said, her tone defensive.

"Tch. Whatever. But soon, you'll have no choice but to trust me."

Mikasa said nothing, but lifted up her cuffed hand and tried to pry open the lock of the cuffs, to no avail. Even when Levi tried, the cuffs did not budge, but the metal was left with scuffed marks to show their efforts in vain. The pair decided to move on, and Levi suggested keeping the knife on their persons. Mikasa did not even give Levi the option of carrying it, when she immediately stashed it away in a pocket of her jumpsuit.

"We should keep it a secret... just between us." Levi suggested.

On that, both of them agreed without any issue.

"Yes, just in case." Mikasa said.

Indeed. Just in case.

The pair were nearing closer to source of the light in the tunnel, which appear to be coming from a grate down low in the wall. It reminded Levi of the panel they themselves had crawled through to get in here.

Mikasa and Levi, without saying a word to each both knelt down side by side to look out of the grate. There was another room, one that they had not visited before. The floor was made up of large flag stones. But there appeared to be four large pits filled with mud. Without making a sound, Mikasa prodding Levi's shoulder and pointed to something in the corner of the room.

A man with blonde hair, and a thin moustache was lying on the floor.

"Should we wake him up?" Mikasa asked.

Levi did not answer, needing time to think to himself.

Mikasa took a few seconds of her own, to muse to herself.

"Perhaps we should keep quiet about everything we've seen - the knife, the tunnel, this new room, and that guy down there. Who knows when all of this information might be useful?" Mikasa proposed.

Levi nodded.

"We should see how all of this plays out... I agree."

With that, the pair decided to head back down the tunnel to the grate that lead back to the aquarium. Mikasa and Levi walked in silence; the air was steely between them.

Something about that knife had done something to her...

"Did you notice this before?" Mikasa asked, pointing to something on the wall.

On the wall of the tunnel printed in black was the word "MIRK".

"What do you think it means?" Mikasa said, taking out the notepad from her pocket and writing the word down with her pencil.

"It could mean a hundred things... or nothing." Levi imparted, and shrugged his shoulders.

Mikasa smirked, and put the pencil and notepad back in her pocket.

"Now, I know that you don't believe that." Mikasa said, the smirk curling the end of her lips.

Levi turned to look at Mikasa.

"Oh yeah? And why is that?"

"You are smarter than that." Mikasa said, proceeding to step away from Levi and towards to grate.

Levi's cuffed hand grabbed her wrist.

"What makes you think that?" He said, frustrated with her half answers.

Mikasa's eyes widened with a look of panic and she yanked her wrist out of his grasp. She quickly stepped away from Levi, as if trying to escape from him. But they were still handcuffed to each, so the more the backed away from him, the more he had to step towards her. Levi made a mental note to himself that she was as quick as she was strong.

"Mikasa! We are handcuffed!" Levi urged.

"Don't touch me! I don't like being touched!" Levi could detect fear in Mikasa's voice.

Taken aback, Levi put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, until Mikasa finally stopped moving. Levi had never thought he would see the day when Mikasa would appear to be afraid of anything.

"I'm sorry – I didn't know. It won't happen again." Levi said, hoping that she realised that he meant it.

Mikasa nodded, looking away from Levi.

"In answer to your question, I can practically hear the cogs turning in your head whenever we find new information." Mikasa said quietly.

The pair climbed through the grate, and were met by the familiar blue glow of the aquarium and it sea life. Levi fastened the grate back in place, so that it looked like it had not been moved in the first place.

Levi wanted ask Mikasa why she had reacted the way she did, when he had touched her wrist. But he decided that right now was not the best time.

"So are we heading straight back to the Library, Mikasa?" Levi asked. He wanted her to feel like she was in control of the situation.

"Yes. I think we've seen enough here." Her voice was cold and her words concise.

The two of them marched on down the corridor in silence.

"I am sorry you know." Levi offered.

Mikasa did not reply to him. They continued down the corridor in silence until the door to the library came within sight.

"We should get our story straight, Levi. We'll say that all we found was the aquarium, nothing else should concern them at this point. Not until we can decide who to trust." Mikasa said in a matter of fact way.

"I agree. Not until we know who to trust." Levi replied. He could already feel his headache coming back.


	8. All Eyes On Me

Levi turned the golden doorknob and pushed open the door. The first thing that he noticed was that there seemed to be more people in the library now than when they left. These new people were all wearing the similar green jumpsuits, and Mikasa noticed that some of them were not partnered up, just like Eren.

Reiner and Armin were the first to notice Levi and Mikasa's return, as they waved and ushered them over. The others in the room were talking to each other, eagerly trying to gain as much information as possible as to how and why they were here.

"Welcome back guys." Armin said, his voice bursting with excitement.

"Thanks, are we the last to get back?" Mikasa asked.

"Yeah, though you were only a minute behind the others... and they've brought a few new faces." Reiner said with a hand on his hip.

"Seeing as everyone is back now, why don't we call a meeting, Reiner?" Armin suggested. "It'll be easier, so we can all find out what everyone has found."

"Sounds good." Reiner said, nodding in agreement.

"And we will get to meet these new faces..." Levi said, only loud enough for Mikasa to hear.

Reiner shouted for everyone to gather at the large table in the centre of the library, and everyone rushed to take a seat. Immediately there was a clinking sound as the metal handcuffs and chain brushed against each other as people hurried to take the last seats. By the time they reached the table, there was only one chair left which Levi offered to Mikasa to sit on, while he remained standing with some of the others who had missed out on chairs.

"First of all, I would like to welcome the new arrivals that have made it here." Armin said standing at the top of the table, "We are all confused, but hopefully if we work together and share what information and resources we have, we will be able to get out of here in no time."

Levi dared not look at Mikasa at the mention of sharing information.

"I have a quick question!" The voice came from a pretty girl with blonde hair, who had no partner.

"Umm.. sure." Armin said.

"Are we supposed to be on different teams?"

There was a murmur of whispers all around the table.

"Shhh... please guys." Armin said, with the frustration obvious in his voice. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

"I was under the impression that we were on different teams. The Singles, those without partners, verses The Couples, those with partners." The pretty blonde girl said.

The atmosphere in the Library changed almost instantly, people were not whispering anymore, and Levi could hear someone shouting. He knew who it was before he even turned in the direction of the voice.

"I told you all from the beginning, that we couldn't trust Eren!" Jean shouted, pointing his finger at Eren at the other end of the table, sitting next to Reiner.

Reiner, who was standing next to Armin at the top of the table rested his hands on table and stared down Jean, who was sat at the opposite end of the table. Mikasa could not miss how the way Reiner was standing seemed to emphasise how broad and muscular his shoulders were.

"Jean, we all know that you have this obsession with Eren - but this is a bit much, don't you think?" Reiner said.

"With the new people we've found, it proves that just because Eren was by himself, doesn't mean that he killed his theoretical partner. The other Singles prove that he had no partner in the first place." Armin said.

"B-but Eren is-", Jean stammered, before being interrupted.

"Anyway," Reiner started, "Why don't the new people introduce themselves? I'm sure by now that you have all found the cards with your names' and phrase in your jumpsuits?"

The first was a couple, the man with a closely shaven head, the other pretty blonde woman who had asked about the teams.

"I'm Connie, and my card has the number 4 on it."

Armin's brow furrowed as if recalling something, just as Ymir stood up.

"My card has the number 4 on it too. Do you think this a coincidence?" Ymir said, holding up her own card.

"We will make a note of it," Armin said, as he took out a note book similar to Mikasa's, and began writing something down. "I found this notebook in the Classroom, where me and Reiner started. I'm going to start making a log about all the information from the cards. Hopefully it will help us solve this puzzle."

Reiner called for Connie's partner to stand up next.

"My name is Krista, and my card says 'Go by the book',"

"We found Connie and Krista in a room that resembled a church, and we found Sasha in the hallway to the north. She said that the room that she started in looked like a café. But the first we room tried was locked and we weren't able to get it." Said Annie.

"Fine. Next." Reiner called, as Armin finished writing.

A girl with long brown hair in a ponytail stood up next, and she did not have a partner.

"As Annie said, I'm Sasha. My card has some of symbol on it that I can't really get the meaning of." She passed the card to Armin who looked at it for several moments with his lips slightly pouted.

Looks like he doesn't know what it means either.

Armin drew the symbol the best he could into his notepad and passed it back to Sasha. For a second Levi thought that he noticed the lights getting dimmer in the room. He pushed the thought away and focused on the situation at hand.

"So Annie and Bertholdt found you in the hallway, but you originally started off in a Café? Did you find any food there?" Reiner asked.

Sasha's cheeks flushed a pink colour and her eyes were focused on the table.

"Yes. I did find some...but most of it is gone now..."

There was complete silence at the table, as a sea of eyes leered at Sasha. Her blush was now a deep crimson.

"You ate it." Reiner sighed. His words were a statement, not a question. Sasha's look of plain guilt was impossible to miss.

"Are you serious? If I had known that, I would have left you in that hallway." Spat Annie.

"I was hungry. Really, really hungry." Sasha said.

"We are all hungry!" Cried Jean, from the other side of the table.

"Let's continue." Said Armin, the frustration in his voice was not hard to miss.

Murmurs around the table concerning food continued until Ymir and Jean stood up.

"So Jean and I found two new people. The first person we found was Erwin here..." Ymir paused and looked towards Jean.

"The room we found him in was...quite strange to be honest. There were chains hanging from walls, the floor was made of flagstones, and there were a few weird devices...the impression that we got, was that the place basically looks like a torture chamber." Jean said.

Erwin was a tall man with blonde hair and icy blue eyes, but he was not as broad and muscular as Reiner. Levi cursed his damned headache that was thumping hard against his temples and gripped the head of the chair that Mikasa was sitting on.

"I just want to point out that none of us chose what room we woke up in. I am as confused as the rest of you." Erwin said confidently.

"Fair point. And what does your card say?" Reiner asked, with his arms folded across his chest.

Erwin paused for a moment before speaking, and seemed to be measuring up Reiner. He quickly glanced at the people sat around the table before taking his card out of his pocket.

"Mine says, 'Nefarious ventures can be of use'... again, it'd like to point out that I didn't choose these words." Erwin's voice was careful.

This guy will have to be careful not to cause the others to turn on him. Seems like there are too many ill coincidences that make him look dangerous.

Levi scratched at his wrist, drawing blood and wiped it away on his sleeve. He was eager to see what the others would think of this blonde man. The table remained quiet as many people looked towards the top of the table, to Armin and Reiner. Levi found himself surprised by this observation.

Looks like these people see Armin and Reiner as the leaders of our little group.

As everyone looked to their would-be leaders, Mikasa turned to look at Levi. She noted to herself that although his expression was usually vacant, she was sure she could see the hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth at this moment, though his eyebrows were slightly turned down.

Daring not to break the silence, Mikasa too turned to Armin and Reiner. She was not surprised to see a cold look in Reiner's eyes, and his arms were still folded across his massive chest.

"We will take everything into consideration, Erwin. We are not here to judge people based on what cards they have, or where they were found." Armin said, seemingly unfazed by the whole thing.

The same thing could not be said of Reiner, who remained silent but did not take his eyes of Erwin.

Obviously, Reiner thinks that this guy could be a threat.

"I am glad to hear that." Erwin said as he sat down in his chair, aware of the Reiner's stare.

Ymir and Jean were still standing at the table, and urged a girl with red hair to stand up too.

"This is Petra - we found her in a huge room that looked like a theatre." Ymir said.

She is very pretty, thought Mikasa.

Petra stood up nervously, tucking her beautiful red hair behind her ears before pulling out her card.

"So, I'm called Petra. Apart from my name my card doesn't have any words. But it has '+1'". 

She sat down in her chair as soon as she had finished speaking, and Mikasa could hear Armin's pencil scratching in his notepad.

Somehow I have to remember all of this, and then write it all down in my own notebook.

Mikasa let out a small sigh, slightly changing the position that she was sitting in. She could now feel the solid shape of the knife in her pocket that she and Levi had found in the tunnel. Just then Mikasa thought that she noticed the lights in the library getting dimmer.

Focus! Stop thinking about the knife. No one else knows that you have it. Only Levi.

"Looks like that is everyone we've found today." Said Reiner, as he put a friendly hand on Armin's shoulder. "How about we get everyone fed and settle down for the night."

"Yes, that is a good idea." Armin said, to the delight of everyone at the table. "Guys find yourself a couch or whatever, we are going to call it a night. We will continue the search for more people and information tomorrow. Could you organise the distribution of the Reiner?"

Everyone stood up from the table, speaking in excited voices at the prospect of food and being able to relax for a few hours. Silently Mikasa stood up and motioned for him to follow her, when they were stopped her Armin who called out to them, still sat at the top of the table. Reiner his partner was telling Ymir and Jean how to distribute the food.

Why is Armin calling us over?

"Guys," Armin said with a smile, still writing in his notepad, "I noticed that you guys saw the lighting change."

Surprised at Armin's observation skills, Mikasa remained silent and tried to control her breathing rate.

He knows. He knows we have a knife and are hiding it from him.

Mikasa could feel her heart pounding, every beat harder and faster than the last

"I thought my eyes were playing a trick, when I first noticed." Levi said nonchalant.

Armin nodded finally looking at the pair.

"Circadian lighting would be my best guess. It's almost as if this place is trying to regulate our sleeping pattern." Armin said.

Levi's eyes squinted for a second before he spoke.

"You remember things like circadian lighting, but have no other memories - like how we got here or anything?" Levi asked.

"I just happened to come across a book about circadian rhythms before the first of our group arrived back. We are in a library after all." Armin replied.

"Any of these books tell you how to get out of here?" Levi asked.

Armin chuckled as he replied.

"No. Not yet. Though I am almost sure that the books here will be of use to us. After all, I cannot imagine that whoever put us in here, would be put the library in here for no reason."

"Sure."

"Anyways, I better let you guys find somewhere to sleep before all of the good spots are taken."

...

All the good spots were taken. The sofa by the fireplace that Levi and Mikasa had used before was now taken, by Jean and Ymir. The only one left was a small two-seater sofa at the end of the library. It was in a sort of nook of the library that was surrounded by three sides of bookcases. It was far enough away from the others, that their conversations were muffled and would give them some privacy.

Perfect. Mikasa thought immediately.

"Sit down quickly, so I can write everything down." Mikasa said, taking out her notepad and writing down everyone's names and what their cards said, as best as she could remember.

I couldn't see the image on Sasha's card. I'll have to find a way to get a look at it.

"What do you think of the Erwin guy?" Mikasa asked, stashing away her notepad.

"Well, in my opinion-"

At that moment, Eren appeared around the corner of the bookshelf that blocked Levi and Mikasa away from the others.

"You guys didn't take any food yet." Eren said, passing their food rations to Mikasa.

"Thank you, Eren," Mikasa said.

"It's no problem," Eren said, standing there with a bright smile for Mikasa.

After a few moments of watching Eren standing there awkwardly, Levi spoke.

"You can go now." He said curtly.

Eren's expression changed as he turned to Levi. Eren's lips pouted slightly, but he looked back to Mikasa and wished her a good night before leaving, giving Levi daggers as he turned around the corner and out of sight. Mikasa stood there perplexed at the situation.

"We will have to be careful of that book corner. Although it gives us good protection from the sight of the others, we may not see people approaching..." Levi said.

"You don't trust the others either yet?" She asked.

Levi shook his head.

"Something is not right. But there are so many people now, that it will be harder to sniff out the wolf in sheeps clothing." He replied.

"You think it might be the Erwin guy that is not right?" Mikasa asked, she was beginning to trust his opinions.

Levi pondered for a few moments with tension in his face growing.

"I can't say for sure... But if he was part of the people who put us in here, I don't think they would have made him look this sinister." Levi said.

"Yeah, his card and where Ymir and Jean found him. It's a bit much isn't it?" Mikasa said, half laughing to herself.

Taken aback at Mikasa laugh, Levi couldn't help but smirk.

This is new for Mikasa.

They made their way round to the front of the couch that faced the wall-come-bookcase. It was a small couch, and Mikasa did not think her chances of getting a good night's sleep were very high. Without a word, both of them sat down and ate the little ration of a single sandwich and a carton of milk.

"Try and get some sleep, Mikasa." Levi said kindly. He was folding up the empty milk cartons. "I'll keep watch. I won't be able to sleep for some time anyway."

Mikasa could not deny that she was dead tired. She had too many thoughts running through her head. Too many scenarios to contend with. Memories that she had to investigate and defragment. She wanted to ask Levi what he had to keep watch for, but her heavy eyelids were already closing, as she said thank you and fell asleep.

Levi knew that she fell asleep almost instantly. Her breathing changed to a more even rhythm, and her head rested on his shoulder. He brushed hair away from her face and noticed a scar running just under her eye on her cheek.

Did she have that before? Maybe I just never noticed it before.

As Mikasa slept, Levi listened to the low rumble of the others in the library. Levi noticed the lights getting darker and darker. Eventually the low rumble of voices became silence, as all the others fell into their own slumbers. Levi found himself thinking about the course of today's events over in his mind. But it his thoughts kept coming back to one person.

Erwin.

Levi himself was not sure what to make of the tall blonde man. He decided that he would have to speak to the man himself tomorrow. Just then Mikasa stirred in her sleep, and Levi noticed that her hands were tightly clenched.

She is dreaming.

There was no chance of Levi falling asleep. His near constant headache would prevent even him even a few minutes of dozing.

I really should find some painkillers.

Levi cursed himself from not grabbing a book before Mikasa fell asleep, and he did not want to wake her now when she had looked so tired from before. His thoughts now turned to her.

Mikasa. I still can't get a good read on you. Anytime I think I do, you do something that completely suprises me. Like with what happened in the tunnel.

Levi sighed and closed his eyes and realised he was more confused now, than when he first woke up with no memory in this maze. A sense of uneasiness washed over Levi's body. Not only because of the huge task he faced to get out of this place; but because he was sure that somebody was watching him.


	9. Echoes and Ripples

The steady lines of rain streamed down the bedroom window, with the pale curtains half drawn. Outside, the wind assailed the trees and their branches, violently swinging and tearing the leaves off. Thunder crashed in its own distorted rhythm miles away, as its companion, lightning, lit up the sky; albeit only for a moment. But it was only now that the storm was reaching the pinnacle of its strength, and decided to exercise what power it had.

With a flash of lightning, Mikasa bolted upright in bed confused by what had woken her, with her heart beating violently against her ribcage. But the deafening rumble of the thunder, that followed sounded like it came from directly above her house, confirmed to her that it was just the storm. Sighing with relief she outstretched her hand, searching for her phone. There were two message icons blinking back at her, and she knew who they would be from. She did not want to hear from that person ever again in her life. Those bridges were burnt, and for good reason.

Her phone also showed her that it was only three in the morning, and she threw her phone onto her bedside table on top of a heap of letters, and knocked over one of the many empty medicine bottles. Mikasa heard the sound of something clattering outside her window. She eventually found her way over to her bedroom window and drew back the curtain, only to see the old gate of the front garden off its latch.

The wind was sending the gate battering against the fence, again and again with small splinters falling off with each new gust. She also saw that her garden gnome had been knocked over, and her front garden was in a general state of disarray. The rest of the world was blanketed in complete darkness, as the dense shapeless clouds veiled the plethora of stars above. It would be hours before there was any source of daylight.

Mikasa drew the curtain so that it completely covered her window, and went half stumbling in the dark to try and find the bathroom. A wave of nausea washed over her and she could feel the familiar ache in chest, her heartbeat racing as she made her way over to the sink, and splashed cold water onto burning her face.

Nice big deep breathes. It's just a storm.

She declined to look at herself in the mirror, but she knew her hot cheeks would be red and flushed. Instead, she opened up the cupboard looking for something that would help her. She didn't want to feel like this anymore. Suddenly there was a crash in the distance, and Mikasa found herself doubled over on the floor.

"What happened?" Levi asked.

But Mikasa did not hear him. Her arms were wrapped around her sides, it was an instinctive reflex, but it did not help the searing pain. She let out a short breath and sucked in new air as she rocked back and forth on the floor, as if nursing the pain away. She opened her eyes, and pulled on the long zip of her dark green jumpsuit.

With her upper body now exposed, she could see her abdomen and the tight bandages that wrapped all the way around her waist. Instantly, she started unravelling layer after layer of bandages until she came to the primary dressing. She pulled back on the padded dressing and found a large scar running up past her belly button. She could smell the dried blood on the dressing, and see some fresh crimson beading forming along the stitching. There was another wound that started at her collar bone and disappeared underneath her black sports bra, but this one had no bandaging and looked as though it was nearly healed.

"What happened to you?" Levi asked, the tone of his voice was careful.

Only moments before Levi had been deep in concentration, trying to listen to the others in the library, and Mikasa, who was still handcuffed to him slept beside him on the couch. Levi had thought that he had heard something from the other side of the bookcase, when to his surprise, Mikasa woke up and dropped to the floor and started writhing in pain. She had not answered his questions of concern, when she abruptly exposed herself in front of him, as if she did not even realise that he was there.

Mikasa blinked in a quick flurry and looked up at Levi. She detected that his expression was that of confusion, and maybe concern. Quickly she looked down at her uncovered body, and instantly pulled her jumpsuit across her bare body. Only realising now that he was staring at her, Levi turned his head away from her.

"Sorry," he said quickly.

Mikasa knew that she was going to need his help.

"Levi," Mikasa said in a low voice. Yet he did not turn to face her.

"Levi, I need your help."

"With what?" he still hadn't turned to face her.

Her hand reached for his angular jaw, and she guided his face in her direction.

"I need your opinion... on whether you think these happened recently?" Mikasa asked, though she thought she already knew the answer.

Finally, Levi looked down at her wounds, for that was what they were. Not scars. But wounds that were still in the process of healing.

"They still look new, especially this one – it looks deep," Levi replied and pointed out the wound on her abdomen, "But how did you get them?"

Mikasa sat crossed legged on the floor, looking down at the bandages.

"I didn't get these wounds in this maze. No...I had them before I got here."

Levi's brows furrowed in confusion.

"You didn't feel the wounds, the pain, the whole time that we've been in here?" Levi asked, incredulous that it could be true.

Mikasa shook her head, and then used her fingers to prod at the flesh of her abdomen.

"It's numb. I can't feel anything. I can't feel my fingers on my stomach at all." Mikasa said in a breathy voice.

Levi noticed that Mikasa's breathes were becoming more frequent and shallow.

She's starting to panic.

"At least you can't feel the pain." Levi said, not knowing how to help her.

"I couldn't feel the pain before, but just now when I was sleeping I felt a sharp pain. The pain is starting to come back," Mikasa's words were hurried and she was beginning to go pale.

I hope she doesn't vomit on me again...wait-

"Mikasa – how do you think we got here?"

"What are you talking about? We lost our memories, how am I supposed to know?" Mikasa said curtly.

"Exactly."

Levi gave her a few moments to think about it.

"Anaesthesia?" Mikasa asked?

"I believe so."

Mikasa nodded, the more she thought about it the more it made sense.

"The people that brought us here drugged us into an unconscious state...using general anaesthetic." Mikasa said.

"Yes, and local anaesthetic could explain why you never felt anything before now. You said that you still have numbness – that sounds like a local anaesthetic. I'm guessing that it's effects are starting to wear off now though." Levi said.

Mikasa carefully looked at Levi before she spoke.

"Do you think we will start to regain our old memories? Do you have any memories of before? Be honest with me, like I have been with you."

Levi ran his fingers through his undercut.

"I... don't know if we will regain our old memories. And no, I don't remember anything from before. But I do keep getting really bad headaches. It could be a side effect from the anaesthetic though..."

With a look a deflation, Mikasa reapplied the padded primary dressing over her wound. She held the long bandage in her hands, not sure where to start, when Levi went to take it from her. His fingers brushed along her hand, but she flinched away from him.

Shocked by her reaction, he dropped the bandage on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't going to hurt you Mikasa."

Mikasa was frozen in place, her breath ragged and her heart pumping furiously.

"No. It's not you." Mikasa managed to say.

Something inside her told Mikasa that something terrible had happened to her. But it was locked away somewhere in her memories. Mikasa was not even sure that she wanted to know what had happened. She grabbed the bandages from the floor and began wrapping it around her wounds and waist, and tied a firm knot.

Levi had turned away from her while she worked the bandage and zipped up her jumpsuit. He was confused more than ever.

"Do you think we knew each other before? On the outside, before the maze?" Mikasa asked.

The question surprised Levi.

"Who knows." Levi said, stumped. "But we will find out what happened to you Mikasa. We will find whoever did this to you,"

"And then what?"

Levi shrugged his shoulders.

"That decision will be up to you."

Mikasa sat back down on the sofa that she and Levi shared.

"I have to tell you something Levi, although I'm not sure if what I'm about to tell you means anything."

Levi said nothing, waiting for Mikasa to continue.

"I was dreaming just before I woke up now. I can't be sure, but something tells me that it wasn't a dream – but part of a memory."

"A memory-"

Suddenly there was shouting at the other end of the library, and a three noted chime sounded throughout the library. Levi was sure that he heard the chime echo throughout the whole maze.

"TARGET ACCOMPLISHED; CARD TWO"


	10. Chapter 10 - By Accident or Design?

“TARGET ACCOMPLISHED; CARD TWO”

Mikasa threw a bewildered look at Levi, confused at what she was hearing. Not only confused by just the sound of the strange chime and the announcement that followed, but now there were multiple voices shouting, that appeared to be coming from the middle of library. Instinct told her to run straight to where the voices were coming from, but instead Mikasa pulled on the chain connecting the handcuffs to Levi as he began to run.

“Wait, Levi! Before we go and find out what is happening, we need to agree on something...”

“Yes?” Levi asked.

“I don’t want anyone to know about my wounds or the dream – or memory whatever it was.”

Levi nodded.

“I agree. I think it would be dangerous to tell them. We still don’t know who we can trust. But… you can trust me.” Levi said, trying to reassure her.

Mikasa pursed her lips, not sure of what to say to him.

They both started running and rounded the corner of the bookcase that had kept them hidden from sight away from the others. Mikasa felt the hair of her arms prickle and stand up as the air around them now was cool and chilly.   
As they got closer Mikasa and Levi could see the others had all formed into one group and appeared to have formed a sort of half circle around the fireplace that Mikasa and Levi had sat beside earlier.  
“Jean, what did you do?” 

“Did you hear that noise – that chime? What does it mean?”

“He’s done something wrong, and now the maze is going to punish us!”

“This is entirely your fault, Jean!” Ymir shouted.

Jean seemed to be standing between the crowd and the fireplace, which now had a fire burning inside. But something about the fire did not look quite right to Mikasa. Jean turned to his partner that he was handcuffed to, Ymir, and pointed at her.

“You were the one that was complaining that you were cold!” Jean retorted.

“Don’t put the blame on me and pretend like you weren’t cold either?!” Ymir replied.

It does feel colder than it was before…

“Look at the fire.” Levi said to no one in particular. The others were still shouting at each other but Annie and Bertholdt were standing close by.

“Yes, was can see it. It is a fire.” Annie said curtly.

“Annie…” Bertholdt voice was more of a whimper that anything else.

Mikasa’s brows furrowed in annoyance, not only at Annie’s rudeness, but because she too could tell that something was not quite right with the way the light and shadows fell around the fire.

“Levi is right. Something is back there. Something is behind the fire.” Mikasa said above the shouting.

The shouting in the room grew quiet, and now the group’s attention was now concentrated on the fireplace. 

“Is it just me, or do the shadows look strange somehow?” Somebody whispered.

Reiner took a step forward before turning back to Armin.

“Let’s go and check it out.” Reiner encouraged.

Armin swallowed hard and finally stepped forward with his partner, the chains of the handcuff clinking faintly as they went. The pair slowly approached the fireplace before Reiner cautiously knelt directly in front of the fireplace.

Without turning back Reiner said something that the others couldn’t hear.

“What was that Reiner? We didn’t hear you.” Sasha said.

“I said, that it looks like there is a room here. A room behind the fireplace…”

“You’ve got good eyes Levi.” Bertholdt said.

With a huff, Annie crossed her arms across her chest.

“Let’s go and check out the new room then!” Sasha said with a grin. 

No doubt the prospect of more food is on her mind. 

Mikasa smiled to herself at that thought, but it was soon gone when Reiner spoke next.

“Guys, I think someone is in there.”

“There’s another person in the room?” Jean asked.

“Yeah… but I can’t really see much else from this distance.” Reiner said, picking out the logs from the fireplace and throwing them to the side.

“What are you doing? Don’t put the fire out – it’s cold in here!” Sasha exclaimed.

Reiner turned around and threw her an incredulous look.

“Do you want to find out what’s going on in this place or not, Sasha?” Reiner’s tone of voice was that of no nonsense.

Sasha’s only reply was that of a pout of her lips, and Reiner continued to carefully pull out the logs until the fire had all but died, and all the remained was a few embers. Everyone gathered closer to get a better look.

“So…who volunteers to go first?” Armin asked.

Reiner gave Armin a confused look.

“Armin… c’mon. We should go first.”

“We should give someone else the chance to volunteer.” The shake of Armin’s voice was undeniable towards the end of the sentence.

Poor guy. Reiner seems so keen to go, but Armin is holding him back because he is scared…he looks like a little boy.

Mikasa realised that she felt pity for him, but then she noticed that most of the crowd were now looking at her and Levi.

Are they expecting us to volunteer to go first?

“How about it, Levi and Mikasa?” Armin called out.

Mikasa had no intention of volunteering to go somewhere that could be potentially dangerous.

I’ve got my own problems to deal with. I don’t need more shit on my plate.

“Yeah, Mikasa. Why don’t you go first?” Annie’s voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mikasa could always count on Annie to wind her up. With her mind now made up, she turned to face Levi, but to her surprise he was already looking at her. He too had decided but was waiting for the go ahead from Mikasa.

“We’ll do it.” Mikasa voice carried with it great confidence, as if she had always meant to volunteer.

With the chains of their handcuffs rattling, Levi and Mikasa approached the fire place, and they crouched down beside Reiner as he pointed inside. The room inside was almost pitch-black, the only light source that entered the small room was from the library itself. But now Mikasa could see what Reiner was pointing at.

“See that?”

Mikasa could just about make up a huddled shape lying on the floor of what looked like a small room. The last of light prevented her from seeing anything else in the room.

It could be a person…

Levi nodded and just before he was about to climb through the fireplace, Erwin stepped forward.

“I’ll go with you.”

There was a murmur of whispers among the group, some had confused looks on their faces, but the look on Armin’s was one of delight.

“The more the merrier, right?” he said.

“Glad to have you with us.” Levi said, as they shook hands.

“Let’s get to it then.” Mikasa insisted, as she took the first step forward, but Levi stopped her.

“Wait, Mikasa, I’ll go first.” Levi said.

Without hesitating, Mikasa clambered through the fireplace before replying.

“It’s okay, I got it.”

“That’s some partner you got there. Does she ever actually listen to you?” Erwin said in a low voice so only Levi could hear.

“Tch.”

Levi and Erwin followed Mikasa’s lead, as she waited on the other side she tried to make out the other shapes in the room.

“Are these hammocks?” She asked though she already knew the answer.

The hammocks were pinned to the brick walls of the room, and a few pillows and linen blankets scattered across the room. 

“Can we get a light or torch or something in here? Erwin called out to the others in the library.

“Sure, we’ll find something for you to use.” Armin called back.

Cautiously, the three of them approached the huddled shape on the floor. 

“It does kind of look like a person.” Mikasa whispered.

“Hello there.” Levi called out.

There was no reply from the crumpled mass on the floor.

“Guys, we have some matches that Jean had to start the fire.” Armin said, as he threw them into the small room.

Erwin handed Levi the box of matches, a short hiss followed at he struck a single match. With a short fizzle, a small ambient light emitted from the match. It did not prove to be much of a light source, but it was better than nothing. Slowly, Levi approached closer to the mass on the floor, when Erwin stopped him.

“I’ll go first.” Erwin said, “In case it’s not safe. If something happens to one of you… You are both handcuffed to each other and escape might be difficult. Whereas I have no partner.”

Levi nodded, passing the match over the Erwin. The tall blonde man deciding that it was safe enough, crouched down and prodded at the huddled mass on the floor. With no reaction to Erwin’s touch, he turned the shape over, revealing what appeared to be an unconscious man. He appeared to be middle aged with short dirty blonde hair, and a wispy moustache. 

The three of them tried and failed at waking up the man lying on the floor, but he wore the same green tired threadbare looking jumpsuits that they did. Mikasa suggested searching for a card, like the rest of them had found on their person. Agreeing, Erwin still crouched down at the unconscious man’s side, began to root around his pockets. Finally, Erwin produced a card with the man’s name, and held it out so the Levi and Mikasa could see.

~*~*~  
Hannes  
“W/”  
~*~*~

“So his name is Hannes… but what does the bit underneath mean?” Erwin asked.

Levi shrugged his shoulders and offered that maybe the others on the other side of the fireplace might know.

“What did you find?” Reiner called

“We found someone, we’re bringing him out.” Erwin called back.

“Before we do that,” Levi said in a quiet voice to Erwin, “we need to talk. Not now, as we don’t have time. Later on once we get this guy Hannes back, meet me and Mikasa behind the bookcases at the far end of the library.”

Erwin’s prominent eyebrows furrowed together before he nodded silently. 

Mikasa knew that Levi did not believe Erwin to hostile, so she considered the alternatives and thought she knew where Levi was going with this.

With the agreement settled, the three of them began to haul the unconscious man out of the small room, through the fireplace entrance and back into the library. They were met with puzzled and concerned faces.  
“What happened to him?”

“Is he dead?”

The group of spectators were silent as Hannes was laid down on one of the now empty couches. 

“No. He is still breathing.” Mikasa said, as she propped a pillow behind the unconscious man’s head. She watched his chest rise and fall, albeit slowly.

“Can’t you wake him?” Eren said with a confused expression.

After a long-spirited conversation, including what the card they found on Hannes said, it was decided that Armin and Reiner would keep watch of the man for the rest of night. The others were to go to sleep, and it would be decided what to do tomorrow.

The group dispersed into their own corners of the library, trying to get what little remained of their time to sleep. Levi and Mikasa said nothing to each other as they made their way back to their alcove. As they sat back down on the couch they had shared, Levi reassuring Mikasa that she should try and get some sleep. It didn’t take long for her to drop off into her quiet slumber.

Levi pondered over his thoughts, trying to rationalise what he was thinking. He took his name card out of his jumpsuit pocket. 

Take me back to where I belong.

Levi turned the phrase on his card around in his mind, bending it every which way that he could. Knowing that key to getting out of maze was right in front of him. Distracted, he could hear Mikasa’s breathing become more even, as her shoulder slumped onto his. Her head lolled perfectly so that it lay comfortably between the crook of his neck and his shoulder. Levi heard Erwin approaching them before he had even turned the corner of the alcove.

Levi nodded his head in recognition as Erwin took a knee beside Levi. 

“I waited until everyone was asleep. We’ll keep this quick and quiet.” Erwin whispered, his voice susurrus as he motioned to Mikasa.

“Yes. Let us get straight down to it shall we. We will make an agreement. As you can most likely tell, you are not too popular amongst the others…”

We are going to need allies.

“Yes, I gathered that,” Erwin said, the crinkle near his eyes betrayed tiredness, but Levi also thought it was worry. “But every group needs an outcast, or villain in some cases.”

Levi nodded, showing that he empathised with Erwin’s unfair position in the group dynamics.

“For whatever reason they have chosen to go against you. I doubt that they would do anything now…but if things happen to get ugly, you can be assured that you will have our aid.”

Erwin’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Mikasa, still sleeping softly against Levi.

“Does she feel the same way?”

Levi said nothing. Erwin gave a sad smile. 

“I appreciate the gesture. It will be nice to know that not everyone completely is completely against me. But that being said, I don’t know what the three of us could do, if the others go against us. They greatly outnumber us.”  
“Let us hope that it does not come to that.” Levi said.

“In return, I offer you the same. If there is anything I can do to help either of you, just let me know.” 

Levi felt that Erwin’s words were sincere. He wondered at how alone Erwin must feel. Even though he wasn’t the only person without a partner here, the other had all seemed to fall into little cliques, with Erwin being the exception. His first impressions obviously left a lot to be desired.

“One question though. Making this arrangement requires trust… What did I do that made you trust me?”

Levi hesitated before answering and scratched at the small bleeding scab on his arm.

“Let’s just call it gut instinct.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: I know that I haven't updated in like a year and a half. Please believe me when I say that a lot has happened in my life during the last two years or so. Not least with the global COVID 19 pandemic. Having said that, finishing this chapter has seemingly rekindled my passion for writing, and I hope to have more updates for this fic soon.


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